There's a big difference between being "socially encouraged" to wear a veil and being beaten in the street for not wearing one.
Uh huh. I think we'd all agree that no one should be beaten in the street for not wearing a veil. Or ticketed and thrown in jail on the 2nd offense, as a topless women would probably be in Kansas. I don't even think women should be "socially encouraged" to wear a veil, but when I think of the topless Kansas woman, who will be ticketed and then thrown in jail, the "different culture" argument comes home to roost.
The latter was the norm in Afghanistan when the Taliban were in power. I don't know what it was like in Iraq, but I can certainly see why the author of that article finds it a good thing when women aren't forced to wear veils.
But women in most of the US are forced to wear bikinin tops. Forced, when in public. If they refuse, they'll be ticketed, and if they continue to refuse, thrown in jail. If you want to get upset about something, that's something you can have more influence over than women in foreign countries wearing veils, or not.
I also happen to think that the phobic reaction Americans have to bare breasts is just plain silly. I have never heard of a person being psychologically scarred by seeing a breast.
Well, you're in the minority on that view, because in most of the US it's illegal. |
